The frantic pace of growth continues as new Ford EcoSport and Hyundai Kona find success

Sales in the US Subcompact SUV segment rose by 35.2% to 295,101 in the first half of 2018, with growth quickening even compared to the 33.3% registered in the first quarter of the year. With the new Ford EcoSport and Hyundai Kona getting up to speed in the market, and the new Nissan Kicks just going on sale in June, the segment could yet [Read more…]

Segment bounces back from Q4’17 decline to post fastest growth in Q1’18

Sales in the US Subcompact SUV segment rose by 33.3% to 133,488 in the first quarter of 2018, bouncing back strongly from the segment’s first quarterly sales drop registered in Q4’17, and handily outpacing the overall 7.0% growth in 2017. With the new Nissan Kicks about to replace the segment stalwart, Nissan Juke, and the new Hyundai [Read more…]

Sales in the US subcompact SUV segment fell by 6.0% to 103,825 in the fourth quarter of 2017, the first time ever the segment has encountered a quarterly fall in sales! Overall in 2017 the segment still gained sales, growing by 7.0% to 424,724, but there is feeling that with the first-generations of pioneers getting older the segment [Read more…]

After seeing its growth dip into the single digits in the second quarter of the year, the subcompact SUV segment rebounded in style in the third quarter – with sales 15% higher than in Q3’16 it was the second-fastest growing segment over the past quarter (second only to premium compact SUVs). With 12% growth YTD, highest among the non-premium SUV segments, the subcompact SUV segment registered 320,899 sales in the first three quarters, not far off the 376,213 registered in the subcompact segment, which suggests that the two could be neck-and-neck in 2018. With the new Hyundai Kona and Kia Stonic coming to market soon, and the new Toyota C-HR still building up its sales, the segment’s healthy growth is likely to continue in the near future.

Segment no longer enjoying rocket growth, but new models can be expected to lift sales in the second half of the year

After registering the fastest rate of growth from among all non-premium SUV segments for the past four years, the subcompact SUV segment has been locked in a tight battle so far this year. As it stands, with 10.6% of growth in the first half of the year, the segments falls right in between the mid-sized SUV segment (9.5% growth) and the large SUV segment (11.1% growth). With the new Toyota C-HR making waves, the still relatively new Honda HR-V gaining sales at a fair clip, and the Hyundai Kona and Kia Stonic joining the party, it is reasonable to expect the segment will, just about, come out top by the year’s end.

After booming growth rates in the last couple of quarters, the Subcompact SUV segment takes a brief moment of pauze, although its 12.1% growth rate to 93,249 sales is still much better than any of the other mainstream segments with the exception of the Full-sized SUV segment. The reason for the slower growth pace is the lack of new models to the segment lately, but that will pick up later this year as Hyundai and Kia are expected to launch their small crossovers Kona and Stonic, Toyota will launch the C-HR and Ford will bring an updated version of its EcoSport to the US, while Volkswagen will be traditionally late to the party with the T-Roc which isn’t expected Stateside before 2019.

In the meantime, the segment is shifting between winners and losers, with the entire top-4 consolidating thanks to double digit increases, with the #4 growing the fastest and the #1 the slowest, while the bottom 3 are all losing by double digits and therefore falling further behind.

After more than 1 million small crossovers and SUVs were sold in Europe in 2015, this remains one of the fastest growing segments with an increase of 16% to 1,4 million sales in 2016, more than half the volume of the subcompact hatchbacks, Europe largest segment and the models on which most of these crossovers are based. The growth is mostly fueled by recent model introductions, as proven by the fact that the entire top-4 loses share of the segment. Still, only two models in the top-10 lose volume in 2016, although that figure doubles to four in the last quarter. As expected, the Renault Captur holds on to the segment lead and becomes the first small crossover to sell over 200.000 units annually in Europe. More surprisingly, the Captur manages this performance without having been updated since its launch while its two closes rivals have been facelifted in 2016. Of these two, the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka sees stable sales and loses its second place to the Peugeot 2008, the fastest growing model in the top-4.

Sales in the Subcompact SUV segment surged by a whopping 44.1 percent compared to 2015, the fastest rate of growth by far in 2016, and more than double that recorded by the second-fastest growing segment, Large SUV. What’s more, with 396,960 sales in 2016 the Subcompact SUV segment surpassed the Large SUV segment in sales for the first time, and should reach half a million sales in either 2017 or 2018. However, it’s important to keep in mind that, for all its growth, the segment remains relatively small compared to the other SUV segments: 2016 saw over 1.8 million Mid-sized SUVs being sold, as well as almost 3.1 million Compact SUVs. [Read more…]

At +23% in the first nine months of 2016, the small crossover segment is still one of the fastest growing mainstream segments in Europe. Compared to the same period of last year, the segment has added almost 190.000 units of volume, pushing it past the one million sales mark after just three quarters of the year, a figure which it only hit in December of last year. Small crossovers outsold their larger counterpart midsized crossovers in the second quarter, but have fallen back behind again in Q3 as a result of surging sales in that segment thanks to a number of new launches there. The Renault Captur continues to improve but also to lose its dominant market share as the number of players in this segment grows. Its closest two challengers, the Peugeot 2008 and Opel/Vauxhall Mokka have both been facelifted this year and had a neck-and-neck race in Q3, which means the former holds on to 2nd place of the segment year-to-date.

The booming sales growth of the subcompact crossover segment is starting to flatten out, with “just” 18% growth in Q3 of 2016, compared to almost doubling in size in the first half of the year. Of course, as successful newly released models celebrate their first anniversary, and no new models hit the market, it’s only natural for sales to stabilize somewhat. Still, the segment outgrows the overall market fairly and squarely, and only two out of the seven models in the segment lose volume, with four out of the remaining five still in double or even triple digit growth. The segment leader Jeep Renegade is starting to lose its dominance, with just 25 sales separating it from the segment #2 in the third quarter. [Read more…]